


Waste Heat

by blasted0glass



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-26 02:19:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18714529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blasted0glass/pseuds/blasted0glass
Summary: Salim is a soldier. He and his party seek James Savery, a brilliant enchanter that has defected from the Empire. The rogue genius must be stopped before a disaster occurs.





	Waste Heat

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally an entry for the r/rational biweekly rationalist writing challenge: Eschaton.

“Test the enchantment,” Dola said as she returned his gauntlet. It had a new toughness rune on it.

He pinched a small chunk of sandstone. Runes glowed on the back of his hand. The sandstone disintegrated with a puff, as easily as a clod of dirt.

“That appears to have been effective. I will now apply my waterproofing rune.” He returned the gauntlet and Dola turned her scribing tool on it. She’d be upgrading the gauntlet long after the rest of the party had fallen asleep, using enchanted goggles to see in the dark.

Dola was the third enchantress who had worked on his equipment. Her additions were like a fifty percent boost in effectiveness, and she even knew more runes than the earlier enchanters. She drew her runes next to those already in place.

At this rate he’d be indestructible before they got to the mountain. Salim was grateful for her presence. Dola always got to take first watch since she was always enchanting their equipment, but that was a small concession for free, unrestricted enchantments. Most of the party was glad to have her.

They journeyed for days before reaching the base of Mount Samaka.

\--

Their briefing for the mission had been minimal.

“I wonder how they know it’s this volcano in particular?” asked Salim.

“I doubt they’re certain” said Daryl. He was the captain on this mission. The sun didn’t seem to bother him in his heavy cloak, but that was the ever-useful cooling enchantment. He continued: “I think there are many teams moving into place just like ours, around any plausible location.”

“Why provide us with so little information?” asked Dola.

“They want us to search like we are the only team. We’ll work better if we don’t think it could be a completely different mountain.”

“That makes sense.” They walked on in silence. At first the trek had been through thick foliage, but now that they were at the base of the mountain the jungle gave way to empty shelves of rock. The air was thinning but it remained saturated with humidity. With the sun that bleached the rocks it would have been a devastating combination, but enchantments prevented it from troubling them. Despite that, Salim was still thinking about heat.

\--

He went ahead and asked Dola about it: could you survive running lava with a cooling rune?

"Even dozens of cooling enchantments would not be up to the task. Maybe hundreds would suffice." Well, he wouldn't be indestructible after all. "Also, I would not want to stand anywhere near you if you had hundreds of cooling runes!"

"Why not? I'd freeze everything?"

"No, the opposite! Well, you may freeze, but everything near you would burn."

"That makes no sense."

"Cooling runes take heat from their vicinity and move it further away. They form a surface of heat rejection. Normally the change in temperature is hard to notice, but with hundreds running it would be an appreciable effect. Especially because all of the mana they use will be converted to heat as well."

"Oh wow. I didn't know that."

"It is a fundamental law of the universe. The conservation of energy." Salim tried to appreciate Dola's enthusiasm. He was a soldier and not an enchanter, but conversation was preferable to silent trekking.

\--

Suddenly Salim felt the full weight of his armor. Two hundred and fifty pounds of steel dragged him to his knees. Without magical enhancement the armor was too heavy to lift. He fell forward and despite digging in to the ground he slid to the bottom of the rise he had been cresting. It was lucky for him that it had happened where the trail wasn’t particularly steep.

Dola walked back to him. She leaned over and did something to his chest plate, which instantly became lighter.

“This region is mana deprived.” She was scratching his armor with her inscribing tool. “You are no longer waterproof. Your armor is less resistant to scratching. You are no longer perfectly silent.” The pressure decreased; the runes for reducing weight weren’t competing with all of the others and could get enough mana. “I apologize, Salim. None of the previous enchanters used switching runes when enchanting your armor."

Of course they didn't: switching runes were a new invention. That meant the only way to turn those enchantments off would be to destroy them. His armor became lighter but his spirit was heavy. Those runes had been inscribed before any runic control restrictions were in place. It would be expensive to have them replaced, assuming he could get permission.

At least she had left the cooling enchantment in place. For now. Daryl looked on with a frown.

“Mana deprived. Well, I doubt we’ll encounter Savery or any rogue enchanter on this mountain.” They continued to trek.

“Dola, don’t you know a rune for increasing the draw range of other runes?” This time it was Trevor who spoke. He was the marksman of the party. “Why don’t you just increase the range of our enchantments?”

“I have utilized the extension rune already. I am limited to a single use of it per item, as is every enchanter.”

“Oh. And it’s still not enough.”

“Correct. Although, since we are walking in a tight group, doubling the range is less effective than you might think. All of the items are drawing from essentially the same area regardless.”

After that they spread out a bit.

\--

“Do you think the lack of mana is related to the lack of vegetation?” asked Elizabeth. She was the doctor and white mage of the party. It was a question that they all had on their minds. Trevor had lamented the lack of foliage. He apparently enjoyed hunting.

“Probably not,” said Dola. “Inhabited areas tend to be both fertile and magical, but that is the result of human preference. Mount Samaka happens to be neither, but there are areas teeming with life that have little mana to spare.”

“What causes mana to vary in strength, anyway?” asked Salim. He felt much safer under his heavy plate armor and didn’t want to discard it.

“Mana descends from heaven. The distribution is random.” Dola had a sour look on her face. She wasn’t the only one.

“What makes you so sure it doesn't well up from leylines in the Earth?” asked Elizabeth.

"I had a feeling we would disagree on this matter."

"Well, it isn't a settled thing."

“There is  _technically_ not a consensus, but tests have been done. The mana concentration in the Earth is negligible.”

“You’d think that if mana came from the Earth volcanoes would have an abundance, I suppose," said Elizabeth. "But then, if it came from the sky it should be the same everywhere, or should change like the weather."

“I think that debating it in the field would be a waste of effort.”

“That’s fair.”

\--

The group tied scarves around their faces that cooled and cleaned the air. “Even a minimal mana concentration is sufficient for some things,” Dola explained. Salim hoped that continued to be true.

“Do you think my rifle will still work at the summit?” asked Trevor.

“Almost certainly,” said Dola. Trevor activated the pressurization rune after that, Salim noticed. His gun was new, or at least had been inscribed with the new switching rune.

“I’ll keep at least one shot’s worth of air charged, just in case,” Trevor explained. Salim approved of his preparedness.

\--

The problems got worse as they ascended. Salim was forced to leave his armor behind. Daryl got rid of his cloak. Trevor lost the spring in his step, and Elizabeth warned them to be careful because she wouldn’t be able to heal them properly. Elizabeth had been using her magic to cure blisters, cuts, and scrapes. She continued to do so, but as time went on it became apparent that a lack of mana was making the process less effective.

"Ouch!" said Salim. "What did you do?" He squeezed his heel.

"The blister broke. I'm sorry," said Elizabeth. "There's not enough mana."

"Yeah, but why would you break the blister?" It hurt.

"I didn't do it on purpose." She thought for a moment. "You know that healing correctly isn't a simple thing."

"Of course."

"Well, injuring someone is simple. With less mana my magic is difficult to apply. It is much easier to irritate a wound than to cure one."

"I see." He was still rubbing his foot. "That's unfortunate."

"It is. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. If we turned off our enchantments, would healing me get easier again?"

"Yes, but it's easier to leave the sphere of the enchantments than turn them off. Here, follow me. Leave your breathing scarf." Salim stood and did as she asked. They walked away from the group and into a wall of sweltering heat.

The rocks were too hot for him to put his foot down, so he stood awkwardly while Elizabeth did her work. They both began to sweat. After she had finished they hurried back.

\--

Dola began enchanting their shirts despite the lack of mana. Whenever they stopped to rest she pulled out her tool and asked a party member for their spare clothing.

"Why are you so insistent about that?" asked Elizabeth.

“We should utilize what we possess,” Dola said. "An enchanted shirt will not be as useful as enchanted armor, but it will function with less ambient mana."

"If I have to do anything with someone’s torso, the shirts will be a problem. About the only thing worse for disrupting my healing would be writing on their skin directly.”

“We will remove the shirts or scratch off the runes if it becomes necessary.”

"Even a moment can make the difference between life and death." For several seconds Dola continued to wordlessly inscribe the shirt.

"Alright." Dola stood up. "If anybody does not want free enchantments, please speak up. It may be a matter of life and death." Nobody said anything. "No? Your preference is to travel in comfort?" She looked to Elizabeth. "I can skip yours, if you prefer." Salim could see a muscle in Elizabeth's jaw working.

"I"m just trying to keep contingencies in mind."

"I am solving the problems we face with certainty." Dola shrugged and returned to her scribing. Elizabeth turned to walk away.

"Wait," said Daryl. "Elizabeth, is it really of critical importance?"

Elizabeth looked at their leader, and spoke evenly. "It probably won't be. But I prefer that we at least remain aware of the issue."

"Thank you, Elizabeth. We will keep it in mind."

\--

Finally, they reached the summit of Mount Samaka.

They would made camp at the edge of the volcanic crater. Small amounts of steam sometimes rose from the lake at its center. Even with air-refreshing enchantments they dare not descend into the depression. The water in the lake and the air above it were likely to be toxic. Fortunately, Dola’s cooled scarfs condensed drinking water from the air.

Daryl ordered their party to split into two groups. Dola and Trevor began a trek around the outermost edge of the crater to lay sentry traps; if anyone approached they wanted to be aware of it. According to their mission it was essential that nobody approach the lake at the center without the party noticing.

Salim and Elizabeth began to set up camp near an outcropping that could provide some shade during the day. Sitting on top of the ridge would also provide a decent view of the volcanic crater. Down the slope the beginnings of the surrounding jungle could be seen. When Trevor and Dola returned they settled in to wait, eyes nervously glancing across the volcanic crater, faces pinched into frowns. They could remain there for weeks without resupply. They had water from the scarves, food from their packs. If necessary Trevor could descend the mountain to look for game, although that ran the risk of him encountering the rogue enchanter by himself. They weren’t worried about their ability to intercept their target.

They were worried about the volcano.

\--

Salim imagined that more steam was rising from the lake than previously. It unsettled him greatly. This volcano was technically active, though obviously not currently erupting.

By the fifth day, however, he had a much better sense of the volcano's behavior. The levels of steam would naturally fluctuate. They relaxed as the apparent danger lessened.

\--

The party waited for eight days. None of them believed that the errant enchanter would make an appearance, but they were disciplined.

Daryl had been given more information because of his higher rank. He explained some background for them one morning.

“Savery was a researcher at the University of Glasbane. He’s forty-six years old. Before his disappearance he discovered fifteen new runes.”

“That is a phenomenal accomplishment,” Dola added. “For reference, there are currently one hundred and sixty known runes, only forty of which see regular use.”

"I thought there was as many runes as enchanters?" asked Elizabeth.

"That is technically true. My cooling rune will not have the exact same appearance as another enchanter's cooling room. However, they are never-the-less based upon the same principle, the same underlying runic shape. There are only about one hundred and sixty runic shapes."

"Ah, it's kind of like how every person technically has a unique accent," Elizabeth said. "We are still using the same words."

“That's a good way of putting it," said Daryl. "Savery himself is on another level, though. He is a well-respected member of the university. His most useful contribution so far has been the switching rune.” At this, even Salim was nodding.

It was common knowledge. The switching rune had made big waves after its discovery. Enchantments that utilized it could be turned on or off at a touch, and anyone could activate them. Such a thing wasn’t very useful for armor but it had made a big difference for weaponry. A rifle whose cylinder could be pressurized at will was widely regarded as safer. Mechanisms no longer had to compensate for the continuously running runes. It also allowed enchanted lights to be turned off at night and then turned back on in the morning. They were still discovering ways to use the rune. Indeed, there were revolutions on the horizon—all the universities were working on enchanted engines and other similar projects. It was a matter of making an engine slow enough for a human operator to turn the crank with switch runes, but powerful enough to do useful work.

“Do we have any hypothesis regarding his departure?” asked Dola. “Savery’s discoveries made him wealthy and renowned. He had no reason to abandon that.”

"We don't have a good explanation: only guesses. We know that he had research in progress in a variety of areas. Apparently he added an enchantress specializing in heat and energy to his team right before leaving. She reported that he learned most of her runes and seemed very interested in her work. More troubling is that he’d been requesting information about volcanoes and other geography before his disappearance. The Royal Library has a record of his inquiries and they paint a certain picture. You can see why the Empire would be concerned.”

“I can’t see why,” said Salim. “Surely he wouldn’t set off a volcano for the heck of it. Besides, there are no active volcanoes near Glasbane, so what would be the point?” Salim silently added that Mount Samaka itself was particularly out of the way.

“They don't suspect he's a terrorist. Actually, they think he discovered a way to turn heat directly to mana, or something along those lines.”

“That is absurd,” said Dola. “Not only does that violate the conservation of energy, but such a thing would gain him even more wealth, more respect. A rune that generates mana would change the entire world. Again. If he possessed a rune that generates mana _from anything_ he would surely remain and make use of it.”

“Don’t be so sure,” said Daryl. “His colleagues think he might just run off and hide in the woods. It's not widely known, but he was actually very dissatisfied with the use of the switching rune. He advised caution and restraint after inventing it—but people used it haphazardly anyway.”

For a moment everyone was pensive. Daryl was right regarding the history of the switching rune. After its invention convenience enchantments had proliferated. That wasn’t a problem until the ambient mana in several cities had started running out. Strength enchantments, like those used on armor, were also used on the boilers in steam engines and to strengthen large buildings. There were many disasters before the use of switching runes became restricted.

Dola finally broke the silence. “The incidence of factory explosions went down overall. Beyond that, if he were concerned about the use of his discoveries he could simply remain silent about what he found. No need to disappear.”

“You’d think so. However, according to intelligence he also made new contacts in the Glasbane underground. Some interrogations revealed that he made plans to smuggle someone out of the country, and we are confident it was himself.”

“Why do we even think he’s still alive?” asked Salim. Trevor rolled his eyes.

“It’s a fair question” said Daryl. “Salim, when enchanters die, all of their enchantments are undone. Half of the lights at the university would go out if he died.”

“Oh.”

“So we know he’s out there. We think he is journeying to a volcano. And here we are, waiting for him.”

“He could have been kidnapped.”

“Possibly, but that would have made a ruckus. Also, he was a master enchanter—without enchantment shackles, good luck containing him.”

“Good point.” They had a pair of shackles like that for the mission. The shackles had switches and weight reduction runes written by over a hundred different enchanters, and were therefore quite valuable. Each weight reduction rune would halve the weight of the shackles and draw some amount of mana out of the air. When switched on, the shackles would be effectively weightless and would prevent any other enchantment within one hundred feet from working—they were capable of starving other processes for mana.

Walking back with someone in shackles would be miserable, Salim thought.

\--

The next day was much like the previous days. Salim and Dola were scanning the lake from the top of the outcropping.

“Could he have gotten here before us?” asked Salim.

“Not likely,” said Dola. “We were not restricted by secrecy, and we started our journey much nearer to the mountain than he did.”

“That’s lucky for us.”

“That is the utility of telegraphs.” A few moments passed. Salim listened to the soft hiss of wind blowing over rocks.

“What’s a telegraph?”

“It is a technology that the Empire uses for communications. An electrical circuit is connected and transmits a signal through copper wire. The signal can be interpreted as a message hundreds of miles away.”

“Runes are amazing.”

“Actually, electricity is a completely different phenomenon.” The wind changed direction. “Probably.”

“Oh really? I wonder why I’ve never heard of it.”

“It is of limited utility.”

“Does it have anything to do with volcanoes?”

“My understanding suggests not.”

“You know, if I were going to abandon society, I would choose just about any other location.”

“Savery undoubtedly has an ulterior motive in researching volcanoes.”

“Maybe he misled us?” The wind was stronger now.

“No,” said James Savery. “It was essential that I find a volcano.” Dola and Salim spun around.

He was sitting on a wooden bench that hovered in the air, just past the edge of the outcropping. They hadn’t noticed his arrival, and none of the sentry traps had been activated.

“How…?” asked Dola.

“Repulsion runes,” said James. He was still floating.

“That is impossible. Repulsion flight is inherently unstable.”

“I stabilized it with runes.”

“What? That is not an explanation.”

“True.” He slid his finger down one side of a board and he descended. They could see that there were several lines of runes on the seat next to him, and many more all over the bench. “I might as well elaborate. In fact... shall I tell you a secret?" He seemed extremely pleased with his surprise entrance.

"What's that?" asked Salim.

"The switch rune you’re familiar with is different from mine. Did you know that switch runes can trigger each other? In fact, a single switch rune can trigger up to five other runes of any type, including switch runes. That might seem useless at first, but if you chain them correctly you can make some complicated mechanisms indeed.”

“...I think I understand," said Dola. "Many universities are attempting to use them for engines.”

“Hah,” said James. “They are all missing the point.”

By now the rest of the party had arrived. They were gathering on the shaded side of the outcropping, and James’s device slowly descended. If Daryl, Elizabeth, or Trevor were as shocked as Dola, they didn't show it. Trevor had his rifle.

“None of that explains how you overcame the mana limitations of this region.”

“Oh, that’s not a problem for me.” He stepped off the bench, and glanced around the group. Trevor raised his rifle and James raised his hands. “I take it you are here to escort me back to Glasbane.” Nobody said anything for a moment.

“That’s right,” said Daryl. “Will you come with us peacefully?”

“Of course,” he said. “Just as soon as that one puts down the gun.”

“We’ve got some shackles for you,” Daryl said. Salim had pulled them out already. “Just a precaution, you know. You spooked the guys at the university.” James laughed, but when Salim stepped forward he stepped back.

“Did I? What did they think I was up to?” Again there was a silence. Daryl broke it once again.

“They thought you were going to set off a volcano, or perhaps try to make some sort of super enchantment they wouldn’t approve of.”

“They weren’t wrong.” Trevor’s aim did not waver. “Ah, I should probably explain. I’m not setting off the volcano.”

“You know, the easiest way to undo any of your enchantments is to kill you.” James laughed again, but Trevor had a hard look in his eye.

“You’re wrong about that. Once again, you’ve been working with a diff-”

Trevor shot James Savery in the head. Perhaps Trevor had been given different orders than the rest of the party. They would never know.

 --

The air tank on Trevor’s rifle didn’t immediately start refilling because there was too little mana. However, after about half a second the bench shot off into the air.

“What --” started Dola, but before she could finish her question Trevor’s head exploded. She fell backwards without completing her sentence.

“I call that a distraction,” said James as he hopped to his feet. He was holding a pistol, so Salim tried to smack it out of his hands with the shackles. He had activated them and so they should make any nearby enchantment fail. However, it was like hitting a marble statue with a rolled-up paper tube. “I should mention that I’m literally bulletproof.” James leveled the pistol at Salim, who desperately jumped out of the way. The shot hit him in the chest and he tumbled to the ground. James turned and aimed at Dola next, but Daryl threw his breathing scarf in James’s face and tried to yank the pistol out of his hands.

James let go of the pistol and grabbed Daryl by the elbow and shoulder. He then tore Daryl’s arm from its socket, a feat that shouldn’t have been possible with anything less than dozens of strength enchantments. He was laughing again. He tossed the arm and started to advance on Daryl, who desperately inched away.

“You foolish, foolish people. I would have--” Suddenly he stopped. The smile didn’t leave his face, but he fell to his knees. Elizabeth was standing behind him and had her hand on the back of his head.

“I’m a doctor and white mage. You...” she spoke down to James, “are a corpse.” Runes could interfere with medical magic, making it impossible to fix someone’s wounds, but it didn’t take much to break a brain. James’s body fell to the ground when Elizabeth let go of him. She didn’t waste any time and moved toward Daryl.

A few moments later there was a crash. It was the bench falling about two hundred feet downslope. Pieces of the bench scattered and spun crazily under the influence of undirected repulsion runes. Salim had gotten to his feet and patted himself down.

There was only a bruise. The pistol hadn’t fully recharged between shots. No wonder—the strength runes that James used probably drew a lot of mana. Perhaps Salim’s enchanted shirt had helped as well, but he doubted it. Were the shackles useless?

Unfortunately, both Trevor and James were long gone.

\--

Some part of Salim wanted to bury the bodies before they left, but Elizabeth stressed that they had to hurry to a mana-infused area if Daryl was going to survive. Her magic wasn’t working and he was still losing blood. So Salim picked Daryl up and started down the slope. Dola didn’t come immediately. Elizabeth shouted at her but Salim continued down the hill and ignored them. Elizabeth followed soon after.

Dola caught up to them after about ten minutes.

"What were you doing with Savery's body?”

“Savery’s runes remained active. I disabled them in their entirety as a precaution. I should note that they were the most complicated runic arrays I have ever examined. Despite the switch runes being truncated the skin beneath his shirt was saturated with these...” she trailed off. The lightness runes weren’t working, but Salim had caught his breath. The heat was sweltering. Salim set off again.

“Remained active?” asked Elizabeth. “I thought death made runes shut off.”

“I did as well, but his runes suggest otherwise. Not only were they active, but they were arrayed in rows-upon-rows of the same pattern, in the same writing.”

“So?”

“He had more strength enchantments than I could count. I doubt he has hundreds of accomplices with identical rune writing. I also noted the abundance of switch runes on his skin.” Elizabeth and Salim still didn’t understand. “It has become apparent that the runes activated by switch runes are not tied to the original enchanter. At least, this is true for Savery’s switch runes. Dying won’t cause them to shut off, and furthermore their effects stack.”

“Oh,” said Elizabeth. “Oh no.”

That made a world of difference. Salim thought about it while carrying Daryl down the slope of the volcano. A pressure vessel with ten thousand independent pressurizing enchantments, and strength enchantments to match, was the first thing that came to mind. He thought about it further--what about ten thousand repulsor runes pointed in the same direction?

Well, it wouldn’t work unless there was enough ambient mana… except you could just keep adding extension runes until its range was large enough.

Salim really, really hoped that James hadn’t gotten a chance to drop anything into the volcano.

 --

They passed Salim’s armor. None of the weight reduction enchantments on it were working, so they left it. Eventually they had to stop to rest. Elizabeth still didn’t have enough magic to properly heal Daryl, but at least he wasn’t bleeding anymore. They continued as soon as they were able.

 --

“Why didn’t anyone notice this before?”

“What was that?” The party was still fleeing Mount Samaka.

“If switching runes are so useful, why didn’t we know?”

“Savery utilized runes different from those I am familiar with. They are compact and more interconnected. I believe the switching rune he made available had useless branches to it that would have interfered with its ability to interact with other runes.”

"So he hid the power of the switching rune."

"Yes."

“But… why does the stacking of switching runes even matter?”

“It can link to more than one other rune, meaning that complicated... looping chains of runes are possible. That, combined with the fact that stacked switching runes remove limitations on the number of runes that can be activated by a single enchanter, allows for great power.”

“Obviously whatever Savery did worked, or is still working. Why didn’t we know that the enchanter dying is no longer relevant?”

“The switching rune hasn’t existed long enough for that many enchanters to die,” said Elizabeth. There was a rumble and the ground shook for several seconds.

Everyone glanced back up the mountain and saw black smoke. They started to run.

\--

The eruption had not started in earnest. They were able to make it down the mountain and into the jungle without major incident. Unfortunately, they were tired and hurting from their haphazard descent.

Elizabeth screamed in frustration. Her magic still wasn’t working. She could barely affect scratches, much less rejuvenate them from the hike. They were suffering from the effects of heat because none of their runes were working.

It wasn't long before Daryl died.

They could do nothing but slowly make the journey back to civilization. Ultimately that did not help them much, either.

\--

Two things had happened. First, every rune in the world had failed almost simultaneously.

That was a civilization-ending disaster. Much of the world depended upon runes to function smoothly. The simultaneous failure of every machine led to chaos. Food could not be delivered because trains were too heavy to move. Order could not be enforced because enchanted guns would not pressurize. Water purification systems failed, stores of food spoiled, and lights went out all over the world. Buildings collapsed and nobody was strong enough to sift through the debris.

And yet, it wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. Humanity could conceivably recover, maybe even flourish without the help of runes. Society would rebuild and a new civilization would be born, if not for a further catastrophe.

Volcanoes active and dormant began to erupt. Mount Samaka was the first, but over the following weeks and months it seemed like every volcano started showing increased activity. The air became clogged with ash and crops died as sunlight failed to reach them. Toxic rain killed plants and animals. Within six months every living thing on Earth was facing starvation, and the volcanoes just continued erupting.

Dola was the only person who had any idea what had happened. She meditated in those long, sunless months about what James Savery had been attempting to do.

\--

Dola was more or less able to guess it by thinking carefully.

\--

“James Savery endeavored to put an end to enchanting.”

“What?” Salim was feeling light headed. He hadn’t eaten in three days. He sat with Dola in a smaller building on an abandoned farm. It might have been a shed. For them, the main utility of the building was that it had no windows, which meant it was easier to defend.

“He tried to make all enchanting impossible. Actually, he was successful.”

“How? And why would he do that?”

“His motivations are simpler than his methods, in this case. He wanted to make sure that the power of the switching rune would not get abused. I do not refer to the rune he made available, but the true switching rune. The rune that permits a single person to build explosives that draw on the mana of entire nations. The rune that can make an individual invulnerable.” She paused. “The rune that makes a single enchanter more powerful than all the other enchanters of the world. James Savery was attempting to circumvent a disaster.”

“I get it. I just don’t know what he did.”

“Imagine you desired that no one be able to use runes ever again. How would you go about disabling enchantments?”

“Make everyone forget about it?” She shook her head.

“Make the mana supply insufficient for enchanting. It is somewhat ironic. There is no rune for turning heat into mana, because that is impossible. There is, however, a rune for turning mana into heat.” Salim stared at her and waited. “The cooling rune. James Savery constructed a device that consumes mana to cool itself and anything in the vicinity, while simultaneously rejecting heat to the nearby environment. He used switching runes to make the field expand and contract. He built some sort of sensor to measure the ambient mana and keep the field large enough to guarantee it would consume all that was available. If more mana is found, the sensor expands the cooling field. If there is too little mana it contracts the field. He utilized enough extension runes that it would draw mana from the entire Earth. Since he could fly he probably arrived at Mount Samaka days ahead of us and placed it within the volcano before we could even notice.”

“He buried it at the volcano?”

“Yes. He likely utilized repulsor fields and forced the contraption to sink through molten rock. He must have been working on this for years. He chose Mount Samaka because it was out of the way, or perhaps he dropped devices into several volcanoes.”

“Why did mana disappear everywhere at once, then?”

“I imagine he arranged for the device to start drawing in earnest only after he had died. Maybe it had another enchantment on. When he died that enchantment broke and started the process.”

“It doesn't make any sense, unless he wanted to destroy the world after he died!”

"No. I have considered it carefully. Savery undoubtedly did calculations before he deployed his solution. Most enchanters would know that mana descends from the heavens. The concentration of mana inside the Earth itself would naturally be negligible." She rested her forehead in her hands. "And whenever it has been measured, it has always been negligible. However, if the true source of mana were underground… or if there were pockets of it down there...” she waved one hand helplessly. “He severely underestimated the amount of mana his devices would be required to dissipate, one way or another, and therefore he underestimated the amount of heat his devices would produce.”

"So the entire world is doomed because... because some genius made a math mistake."

"That is.. _._ it was a conceptual mistake, not mathematical. "

“I don't care. Maybe he put in an off switch?”

“It is unlikely. If he did, he would expect someone to eventually disable the devices as part of an endeavor to obtain personal power.” Salim didn’t have to ask why they couldn’t disable the devices themselves. Without mana they could never hope to build anything that could withstand the heat of magma, and the overpowered cooling fields would make it hard to approach the devices even then. The devices were now far outside their sphere of influence.

The ash from the volcanos brought on an endless winter.

\--

The cooling field and its hot surface continued to expand. Eventually, the very air above Mount Samaka caught fire as the edge of the field extended back into the atmosphere. No one was there to witness it: all living things had perished long before.

\--

_Some say the world will end in fire,_

_Some say in ice._

_From what I’ve tasted of desire_

_I hold with those who favor fire._

_But if it had to perish twice,_

_I think I know enough of hate_

_To say that for destruction ice_

_Is also great_

_And would suffice._

_-Robert Frost_


End file.
